IASAT2017 · stimulation, and this distinctive response profile suggests that CTs have unique...

IASAT2017 Speaker Abstracts

1

13.10 Keynote 1

Ellen Lumpkin

Columbia University

Associate Professor of Somatosensory Biology, Departments of Physiology & Cellular Biophysics and of

Dermatology, Columbia University, USA Co-director, Thompson Family Foundation Initiative in

CIPN & Sensory Neuroscience, Columbia University Medical Center , USA

Ellen A. Lumpkin (Columbia University) is a sensory neurobiologist whose research has yielded

insights into fundamental mechanisms of fine touch discrimination. She performed her PhD training in

sensory neuroscience at UT Southwestern Medical Center and The Rockefeller University under the

mentorship of A. James Hudspeth, a pioneer in the field of auditory and vestibular physiology. She

completed postdoctoral research in physiology and biophysics at University of Washington, where she

turned her attention to the cellular and physiological basis of touch sensation. Prior to joining the

faculty of Columbia University in 2010, she launched her independent research program at UC San

Francisco Medical Center through the Sandler Fellows Program, and was an Assistant Professor of

Neuroscience, Physiology & Molecular Biophysics, and Molecular & Human Genetics at Baylor College

of Medicine.

Illuminating the Molecular & Cellular Mechanisms of Touch

A rich variety of mechanosensitive cells trigger distinct skin sensations such as pressure, flutter and

pain. Recent progress in the field has revealed key molecules and cell types that mediate fine touch

discrimination. A growing body of research indicates that epithelial cells play a key role in sensation by

activating or modulating peripheral neurons in healthy skin. Dr. Lumpkin’s research aims to unveil

how epithelial Merkel cells work in concert with the nervous system to generate different qualities of

touch sensation. To tackle this question, her group uses neurophysiology, quantitative neuroanatomy,

intersectional genetics, optogenetics, and mouse as well as non-traditional animal models. Recently,

they demonstrated that Merkel cells have dual roles in mechanosensation: they transduce sustained

pressure, and amplify information transfer during dynamic touch, which encodes shapes and textures.

Current studies focus on defining molecular signaling mechanisms between epithelial cells and sensory

neurons, unravelling conserved functions of touch receptors across species and tissues, and

elucidating mechanisms that establish and maintain epithelial-neuronal connections in healthy skin.

http://iasat.org/

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13.50 The CT Afferent

Johan Wessberg

University of Gothenburg

Professor, Dept. of Physiology, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Johan Wessberg is a Professor of Neurophysiology at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of

Gothenburg, Sweden. He has studied human hand motor control, proprioception and tactile

mechanisms using microneurography, where single identified nerve fibres are recorded or stimulated

in human participants. He also has a strong interest in applying modern mathematical techniques

such as Machine Learning in the field of neurophysiology. Current projects include CT afferents,

combining microneurography and functional brain imaging, prosthetic touch, and computer display

technology that integrate visual and tactile information.

The 1st Order Neuron: CT Afferents

The human hairy skin has a system of unmyelinated mechanoafferents with low mechanical

thresholds, so called C-tactile or CT afferents. These are found in the hairy skin, and respond readily to

light touch. They are tuned to slowly moving stimuli, for example a moving brush, and respond

optimally when the touching object has the same temperature as the skin. We demonstrated that

psychophysical ratings of pleasantness were correlated with the mean discharge frequency in CT

afferents, but not with firing in the four classes of myelinated (A) afferents in the human hairy skin.

We propose that the CT system is important for signalling emotional, pleasant touch to the skin, rather

than having a discriminative function. CT afferents appear to be tuned to the characteristics of typical

human skin-to-skin contact, such as caresses.

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Vincenzo Donadio

University of Bologna

IRCCS Istituto Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, UOC Clinica Neurologica, Ospedale Bellaria, Italy

Vincenzo Donadio is a Neurologist, and associate medical director (Day Hospital supervisor).He has

several papers published in peer-reviewed international jounals. He has been a reviewer for the

National Research Council (Ministry of Education and Research) of Romania since 2011, and is a

referee for several international journals, including: New England J Medicine, Brain, Acta

Neuropathologica, Journal Physiology. He has been invited to present nationally and internationally on

the use of microneurography and skin biopsy to study small nerve fiber involvement in neurological

diseases.

The Molecular Biology of Touch Neurones

The talk will deal with the molecular neurobiology of affective touch. Affective touch is hypothesised to

be driven by unmyelinated low-threshold mechanoreceptors that are often abbreviated as CLTMs in

animals and CTs in humans. Despite numerous neurophysiological studies, morphological identification

of CLTMs has been reported in only a few animal studies, but with contrasting data.

In the first mouse study, CLTMs were identified with a rare subpopulation of unmyelinated sensory

fibers denominated Mas-related G protein–coupled receptor B4 (MrgprB4) which encircled the neck of

hair follicles. By contrast, a different mouse study supported the correspondence of CLTMs with

tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) positive fibers which were found to form longitudinal lanceolate endings

associated with hair follicles. A morphological study of CTs skin endings in humans is needed to

explain species-related difference or to define if CLTMs described in animals represents only one class

of human CTs.

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4


Roger Watkins

University of Gothenburg

Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of

Neurophysiology, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Roger Watkins obtained his PhD from the University of Bristol, UK in 2014, supervised by Professor

Sally Lawson, using combined in vivo single cell electrophysiology and immunocytochemistry in C-

fiber afferents to study pathological pain mechanisms in rats. In 2014 he was awarded an early career

fellowship to work at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden under the supervision of Professor Johan

Wessberg. Here, he trained in the technique of microneurography to study individual afferent fibers in

human subjects.

Identification of C-Tactile & C-Nociceptive Afferents in Humans by

Latency Slowing

Unmyelinated mechanoreceptive afferents (C-mechanoreceptors) are present in human skin and signal

a spectrum of affective mechanical stimuli, from touch up to intense pain. C-mechanoreceptors can be

putatively divided into populations signaling gentle touch (C-tactile afferents, CTs) and nociception (C-

mechanosensitive nociceptors, CMs). Activation of CTs and CMs gives rise to positive and negative

affect, respectively. Classification by repetitive electrical stimulation and latency slowing has proved to

be an effective method for distinguishing C-nociceptor populations in both human and animal studies.

In the studies presented, electrical stimulation and latency slowing was applied to a population of C-

mechanoreceptors to investigate how fundamental the divisions between putative subpopulations are.

Microneurography was used to record from individual afferents in human subjects and both mechanical

and electrical stimuli were applied to the skin to classify C-mechanoreceptors. Results from these

studies show that using electrical stimulation and latency slowing, C-mechanoreceptors can be

distinguished unequivocally into two putative populations, comprising CTs and CMs. There is markedly

less latency slowing in CTs as compared to CMs. Electrical receptive field stimulation is more effective

in classifying C-mechanoreceptors than mechanical stimulation alone, which can be ambiguous, and

provides a more robust method of separating these two populations of afferents. Substantial

differences are likely to exist in the mechanisms governing axonal conduction between CTs and CMs.

These studies have identified a distinctive 'signature' of CTs based on their responses to electrical

stimulation, and this distinctive response profile suggests that CTs have unique axonal properties

among C-fibers. This signature provides a simple method for identifying CTs and can be used to

identify CTs in future single-unit and multiunit microneurography studies, and CT equivalents in

translational animal research into affective touch. Additionally, differential mechanisms of axonal

transmission in C-mechanoreceptor subpopulations may be pharmacologically targetable for separate

modulation of positive and negative affective touch information. .

http://iasat.org/

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Francisco Taberner

Heidelberg University

Postdoctoral Researcher, Pharmacology Institute, University Heidelberg, Germany

Postdoctoral Researcher, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Rome, Italy

Francisco J Taberner received his PhD from the University of Valencia (Spain). He then worked at

Universidad Miguel Hernandez (Spain) studying the regulation the cold and heat-sensing ion channels

and its involvement in disease. Currently, he is a postdoctoral researcher in a joint project between

University Heidelberg (Germany) and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL-Rome, Italy)

aimed to understand the role of C-LTMRs in pain. He is also involved in unravelling how Piezo2, the

main force-sensing ion channel in touch, transduces mechanical forces into electrical currents.

Bringing Light to the Spinal Cord Circuitry

When someone caress us, or when get injured, sensory fibres, including different touch and pain

receptors, simultaneously activate. The sensory information is then transmitted to the brain through

different pathways where it is finally interpreted and triggers, when necessary, the appropriate

behaviour. Our knowledge on how sensory information travels to the brain is solid. While most of

touch information travels directly from the skin to different brain regions, signals from C-tactile, pain,

itch and other fibres are processed in the spinal cord before they reach the brain. It is also well known

that the spinal cord receives fibres from the brain and that in each spinal segment, all the fibres

interact with interneurons forming intricate circuits which shape the information relayed to the brain.

However, we don’t even reach to understand a minimal fraction of this complex circuitry.

Classical anatomical studies in human and in other mammals have delineated the basic organization of

the spinal cord. Electrophysiological recordings of spinal cord neurons have offered comprehensive

insights in the interneurons types and properties. Nevertheless, the precise connections of sensory and

brain fibres with interneurons is mostly uncovered by these techniques. Fortunately, the amenability of

mice to genetic modification is allowing us to name players and draw the topology of spinal cord

connections. Despite this, a precise understanding on how individual sensory fiber types influences the

message forwarded to the brain and therefore how it contributes to animal behavior is still missing.

This is especially true for tactile stimuli where even the finest caress simultaneously activates

hundreds of mechanoreceptors including C-

makes it extremely hard to isolate the role of individual fiber type in a precise and controllable

manner. In the present talk, in addition to depicting our current understanding of touch circuits in the

spinal cord I will present you how we can gain key insights of individual fiber contribution by shining

light on sensory afferents expressing a light activated ion channel.

http://iasat.org/

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Andrew Marshall

University of Manchester

Honorary Lecturer & PhD Student, Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, UK

Consultant Clinical Neurophysiologist, Clinical Neurophysiology, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust,

UK

Andrew is a senior clinician who has come to research at a (relatively) old age! He has a specialist

clinical as well as academic interest in assessing patients who present with dysfunction of peripheral

somatosensory nerves, particularly those with small fibre neuropathy and neuropathic pain. He is

actively researching the somatosensory system, including C-tactile afferents, in health and pathology.

The 2nd Order Neuron

The spinothalamic tract (STT) forms the primary ascending projection system for thermoceptive and

nociceptive A-delta and C-fibre afferents. On neuroanatomical grounds input from low threshold

mechanosensitive C-Tactile (CT) afferents, which are hypothesised to encode the pleasant/affective

nature of touch, also likely ascend via the STT. However, direct evidence is lacking. We assessed for

alterations in affective touch in patients undergoing STT lesioning for unilateral cancer related pain.

STT lesioning resulted in contralateral thermal sensation deficits. Clinical pain and contralateral

cowhage induced itch were abolished. Pleasantness ratings for CT optimal (3cm/s) and sub-optimal

(0.3 and 30cm/s) stroking touch showed no significant difference before and after lesioning or

between lesioned and non-lesioned sides. However a significant contralateral reduction in touch

intensity (p<0.005) was observed following lesioning. Assessment of Sensory and emotional

descriptors of touch revealed contralateral post-cordotomy deficits in ‘negative’ aspects of touch but

little change in ‘positive’ aspects.

Unlike the dramatic changes in thermoception, nociception and itch the effects on affective touch are

subtle. Although alterations in touch are seen on the contralateral side following STT lesioning

although CT afferent input appears to be processed differently to that of other C-fibre afferent classes.

The effects are most evident for perceived touch intensity and there is no evidence of a dedicated STT

labelled line for the hedonic, velocity tuned, aspects of stroking touch. This may reflect spinal

integration of mechanosensitive inputs or higher cortical processing of intact dorsal column cortical

input.

Additional Authors:

Manohar Sharma, Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Liverpool, UK

Kate Marley, University Hospital Aintree, Liverpool, UK

Francis McGlone, School of Natural Sciences & Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, &

Institute of Psychology, Health & Society, University of Liverpool, UK

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Laura Case

NCCIH

K99 Postdoctoral Fellow, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, NIH, USA

Laura Case is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the National Center for Complementary and

Integrative Health, NIH with Dr. Catherine Bushnell. Her research uses fMRI, TMS, and

pharmacological manipulation to probe brain regions involved in affective touch. Laura was recently

awarded a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence grant to study whether deep pressure touch involves

an affective pathway like that of C-LTMR touch. Laura received her PhD in Psychology and Cognitive

Science from UC San Diego in 2013. Her doctoral dissertation, conducted with Dr. Vilayanur

Ramachandran, focused on the multisensory construction of body perception and differences in

individuals with atypical body perception.

Cortex and Affective Touch: The central representation of

affective touch

Processing of pleasant touch stimuli involves a distributed cortical network including regions involved

in discriminative touch, affective touch, and general hedonic response. Many studies have focused on

C-LTMR touch as a model for understanding the relationship between affective touch input and brain

response. Studies in healthy humans and in patients with AB-fiber neuronopathy have demonstrated

processing of C-LTMR-optimal touch in the insula e.g.[1-3]. However, ratings of touch pleasantness

have correlated with brain areas including the insula[4], orbitofrontal cortex [5], anterior cingulate

cortex (ACC[6]), and primary somatosensory cortex (S1[5,7]). The apparent involvement of S1 is

surprising given the general division between discriminative and affective touch in the brain. However,

many studies do not account for differences in texture or intensity of affective touch stimuli. We

conducted two studies to test the separation of affective and discriminative touch. Using TMS and MRI

we demonstrate that S1 and S2 are causally involved in touch discrimination and intensity perception,

but not touch pleasantness. Our data implicate the ACC in the perception of C-LTMR touch

pleasantness. We have also begun to study the pleasantness of deep pressure touch, commonly

utilized in massage therapy and linked to reductions in stress, depression, and pain. We designed a

programmable sleeve to deliver massage-like limb compression that was rated similarly pleasant to C-

LTMR-optimal touch. I will present preliminary data on brain representation of deep pressure. Finally,

I will discuss evidence that touch pleasantness involves opioidergic mechanisms. Opioid receptors are

especially concentrated in brain areas related to pain and affect[8], and there is evidence in nonhuman

primates that they influence the desirability of social touch e.g.[9]. When we blocked endogenous

opioid receptors with naloxone, we found increased touch pleasantness in healthy adults, suggesting

that low levels of endogenous opioids may make affiliative touch more pleasant.

[1] Olausson, Lamarre, Backlund, Morin, et al., Nature Neuroscience (2002).

[2] Bjornsdotter, Loken, Olausson, Vallbo, et al., J.Neuorosci (2009).

[3] Gordon, Voos, Bennett, Bolling, et al., Human Brain Mapping (2013).

[4] Kress, Minati, Ferraro, & Critchley, Neuroreport (2011).

[5] McCabe, Rolls, Bilderbeck, & McGlone, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (2008).

[6] Lindgren, Westling, Brulin, Lehitpalo, et al., NeuroImage (2012).

[7] Gazzola, Spexio, Etzel, Castelli, et al., PNAS (2012).

[8] Baumgärtner, Buchholz, Bellosevich, Magerl, et al., NeuroImage (2006).

[9] Martel, Nevison, Simpson, Keverne, Developmental Psychobiology (1995).

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9.00 Keynote 2

Frances Champagne

Columbia University

Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, USA

Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Columbia University, USA

Frances A. Champagne is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at University of Texas, Austin

and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Columbia University. She

received a M.Sc in Psychiatry and Ph.D in Neuroscience from McGill University. Dr. Champagne is a

world leader within the evolving field of behavioral epigenetics – the study of how life experiences

lead to behavioral and neurobiological variation through epigenetic factors. Though mechanistic

studies in this field are addressed primarily in animal models, Dr. Champagne has also established

collaborations to explore epigenetics within humans to determine the contribution of these molecular

marks to neurobiological outcomes.

'LickStart' the Brain With Touch

Development is a dynamic process involving interplay between genes and the environment. This

interplay can have both immediate and long-term effects that impact the brain and behavior. The

tactile context of early postnatal development can trigger these dynamic pathways through epigenetic

mechanisms. The quality of mother-infant tactile interactions can have lasting epigenetic effects on

the brain with consequences for stress reactivity, social behavior and cognition and may also lead to

multigenerational effects. These postnatal interactions can also serve to moderate the epigenetic

impact of prenatal adversity. In this talk, the pathways through with tactile environments alter gene

activity through epigenetic mechanisms will be explored and the current state of our knowledge of the

ways in which these environments can be inherited will be highlighted.

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9.40 CTs Across The Lifespan

Chris Murgatroyd

Manchester Metropolitan University

Senior Lecturer, School of Healthcare Science, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK

Chris Murgatroyd is a Reader at Manchester Metropolitan University. His research focuses on

molecular mechanisms underlying early environmental programming. Working on mouse and rat

models, and human cohorts, he studies the epigenetic mechanisms, by which early-life environmental

exposures, such as stress, can programming of long-term gene regulatory changes.

Epigenetic Effects of Maternal Stroking on the Glucocorticoid

Receptor Gene

In animal models, prenatal and postnatal stress is associated with elevated hypothalamic pituitary axis

(HPA) reactivity mediated via altered glucocorticoid receptor (GR) gene expression. Postnatal tactile

stimulation is associated with reduced HPA reactivity mediated via increased GR gene expression. In a

large prospective study from pregnancy to age 5 years (Wirral Child Health and Development Study)

we examined the joint effects of prenatal and postnatal environmental exposures and maternal

stroking on methylation of the GR gene (NR3C1) 1-F promoter. We found interactive effects of

prenatal and postnatal depression, specifically that methylation was elevated in the presence of

increased maternal postnatal depression following low prenatal depression. We further found that this

effect was reversed by stroking of infants by their mothers over the first weeks of life.

Examining sex differences we found that postnatal depression associated with NR3C1 1-F promoter

methylation, and with anxious-depressed symptoms, only in the daughters of mothers lacking the

hypothesised protective effect of high prenatal depression. These findings support the role of

epigenetic mechanisms linking early life stress with long-term effects, and highlight the importance of

translational research in linking studies in animals to humans.

Additional Authors:

J. P. Quinn, Institute of Translational Medicine, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

H. M. Sharp, Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

N. Wright, Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

A. Pickles, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK

J. Hill, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK

http://iasat.org/

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Martine Van Puyvelde

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Postdoctoral Researcher, Department Life, Royal Military Academy, Belgium

Visiting Professor, Department of Clinical LifeSpan Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

Martine Van Puyvelde works as a postdoc researcher at the Royal Military Academy and lectures at the

Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Her research within the domain of parent-infant interaction is situated on

the borderline between music-language within a context of human psychophysiology. She also started

a new research collaboration with Prof. Francis McGlone (Somatosensory & Affective Neuroscience

Group, Liverpool) on the impact of maternal affective touch on mother-baby cardiorespiratory

processes. Within the domain of human performance, she is currently in the lead of a project on

hypobaric hypoxia in pilots and is studying social deprivation and different types of performance in

extreme conditions. Besides being a researcher, she is a family therapist and professional musician.

"Touch-stars”: the physiological impact of

maternal touch

According to the social touch hypothesis (McGlone, Vallbo, Olausson, Loken, & Wessberg, 2007), C-

tactile (CT) afferents, which innervate the human skin, play a crucial role in the experience of affective

touch. In this study, we examined the impact of maternal affective touch on the physiological

cardiorespiratory processes in both the mother and the infant to increase our insight into the

developmental processes of affective touch preferences. Mothers and infants were video-recorded

during an experimental touch/no-touch design. Their ECG and respiration were registered and

analysed second by second. The physiological reactivity of both mothers and infants were processed

and interpreted in relation with touch preferences of the mothers based on the video recordings and

TEAQ questionnaires.

Additional Authors:

An-Sofie Gorissen, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

Nathalie Pattyn, Royal Military Academy & Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium



http://iasat.org/

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Francesco Cerritelli

University of Chieti-Pescara

PhD(c), Department of Neuroscience Imaging and Clinical Sciences, “G. D'Annunzio” University of Chieti-

Pescara, Italy Director, Foundation C.O.ME. Collaboration, Italy

Francesco Cerritelli is an osteopath DO with broad interests in osteopathic and touch research,

neuroscience and health science focusing on interdisciplinary aspects of evidence based medicine.

Francesco has published several scientific papers in this field. In 2008 he founded the European

Institute for Evidence Based Osteopathic Medicine (EBOM), a non-profit research association then

transformed into a not-for-profit foundation named C.O.ME. Collaboration in 2014. Between 2009 and

2014 Francesco was appointed head of research at A.I.O.T. and was assigned to teach neuroscience in

the same institution. In 2011 Francesco attended the Master in Public Health at Imperial College

London and in 2014 started a PhD program focusing on fMRI and the interoceptive aspect of

osteopathy. Francesco has also received several international prizes in relation to the scientific

activities conducted.

Touch in a multidisciplinary NICU environment:

“Pre-term” pleasure, physiological regulations and “long-term”

insights in neonates.

International Health Agencies such as the WHO have determined that improving the quality of pre-

terms' life is a key priority to be achieved by 2035. Annually 15 million premature babies worldwide -

particularly those under 32 weeks of gestation - are at high risk of developing neurocognitive

impairments with consequent adverse health effects (cognitive disabilities, developmental delays,

illnesses), which apart for their prematurity may also occur due to the lack of care for babies with

disabilities or developmental delays after hospital discharge. On the long term, health improvements

in premature newborns have been linked to an integration of typical care with complementary

approaches based on touch, including osteopathy. Interestingly, there is growing

evidence that manual therapies, specifically osteopathy, are clinically effective in perinatal care, but

the underlying biological basis of its therapeutic effects remain largely unknown. Given that the sense

of touch plays a critical role in osteopathy, the presentation explores the potential mechanisms by

which stimulation of the skin senses can exert beneficial physiological and psychological effects, aiding

growth and development. The lecture will discuss how a class of low threshold mechanosensitive c-

fibre (c-tactile afferents), which respond optimally to gentle, slow moving touch are likely to play a

direct and significant role in the efficacy of manual therapies. A greater understanding of the impact

the type and quality of touch plays in therapeutic tactile interventions and in particular the

neuroscience underpinning these effects will aid the development of more targeted, population specific

interventions.

http://iasat.org/

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Kevin Pelphrey

George Washington University

Professor, The George Washington University, Washington D.C., USA

Children's National Health System, Washington D.C., USA

Kevin Pelphrey is Carbonell Family Professor and Director of the Autism and Neurodevelopmental

Disorders Institute at The George Washington University (GW) and Children’s National Health System

(CNHS) in Washington, DC. As a neuroscientist, his research investigates the brain basis of autism

and related neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. Pelphrey is the Director of the National Institutes of

Health (NIH) Autism Center for Excellence—Multimodal Developmental Neurogenetics of Females with

Autism Network that spans GW/CNHS (the lead site), Yale, Boston Children’s Hospital, UCLA, UCSF,

University of Southern California, and Seattle Children’s Hospital. His contributions to the field have

been recognized by receipt of a NIH Scientist Career Development Award from the National Institutes

of Health, a John Merck Scholars Award, and the American Psychological Association's Boyd

McCandless Award for distinguished early career theoretical contributions to Developmental

Psychology. Dr. Pelphrey is the inaugural Director of the Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Institute. The Institute serves as a focal point for translational research and comprehensive clinical

services for autism spectrum disorders. Based in Washington, DC the Institute is a beacon for

policymakers, media and the public seeking information on issues surrounding policy, research and

treatment of autism spectrum disorders.

"See me, feel me, touch me..." Autistic Disruption of Brain

Systems for the Perception of Social Intentions

I will first present our recent research aimed first at delineating the neural systems that allow typically

developing people to effortlessly read another person's intentions through multimodal social cues that

are perceived through sight, sound, and/or touch. I will then illustrate the ways in which these

systems develop atypically in some (but not all) individuals with autism spectrum disorder(s). Finally, I

will discuss how we are utilizing this basic and translational knowledge to develop biologically-based

tools for detection, stratification, and individually tailored treatments.

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Rebeccah Slater

University of Oxford

Associate Professor of Paediatric Neuroimaging, University Of Oxford, UK

Rebeccah Slater is a Wellcome Trust Fellow, Associate Professor of Paediatric Neuroimaging at the

University of Oxford and a Fellow of Green Templeton College. Dr Slater studied Physics (BSc) at

Imperial College and Neuroscience (MSc) at UCL and was awarded a PhD in 2007, where she made

the first observations that noxious-evoked brain activity could be recorded in the newborn infant

brain.

Dr Slater now leads The Paediatric and Infant Pain & Anaesthesia (PiPA) group, which is focused on

understanding the development of human pain. She is interested in the critical newborn period when

infants are first exposed to tissue injury and begin to process and experience pain. Her group uses a

range of non-invasive brain imaging tools, including EEG and fMRI, to explore the development and

treatment of pain in the human nervous system.

She has published numerous research articles about infant pain in journals such as The Lancet,

Current Biology, eLife, and PLOS Medicine. Her work has generated considerable public interest and

she has been passionately involved in science communication and the public engagement of science.

She has taken part in numerous scientific discussions on TV and radio, including BBC Radio 4, The

BBC World Service and Horizon.

Dr Slater continues her research at the John Radcliffe Children’s Hospital and the Oxford Centre for

Functional MRI of the Brain (FMRIB) to improve our understanding of the measurement and treatment

of infant pain.

The Impact of Gentle Touch on Infant Pain Perception

The provision of adequate pain treatment in hospitalised infants is challenging as care providers are

reliant on non-direct measures to quantify an infant’s pain experience. Electrophysiological measures

of noxious-evoked brain activity can be recorded in the infant and used to establish whether pain

interventions reduce the transmission of nociceptive information to the infant brain. In infants both

massage and gentle stroking are reported to provide pain relief, with numerous studies suggesting

that these interventions reduce pain-related changes in behaviour and physiology. We have developed

an experimental set-up in the newborn term infant to test whether gentle brushing, applied at a speed

that preferentially activates C-tactile (CT) afferents, reduces the noxious-evoked brain activity and

reflex withdrawal activity generated by both experimental and clinically-essential noxious stimulation.

In this talk I will describe preliminary data that suggests that activation of CT afferents in the infant

reduces noxious-evoked brain activity.

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Ilona Croy

TU Dresden

Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University Hospital Dresden, Technische Universität Dresden,

Germany

Ilona Croy studied psychology and completed her training in psychodynamic psychotherapy in

Dresden, where she also did her doctoral degree. Afterwards, Ilona spent three years as a post-doc in

Gothenburg and continued working as Associate Senior Lecturer in Linköping, Sweden. However, as

Dresden is a wonderful place to live and work, she returned to the department of psychosomatic

medicine where she now leads the research union. Her research focusses on neural biomarkers of

psychological disorders and she is fascinated by the human brain as well as by large data sets.

Affective Touch Perception Across The Lifespan

C-tactile fibers moderate affective touch perception and mothers stroke their babies in a way that may

stimulate those fibers in the child. We examined factors that relate to the stroking velocity mothers

use to caress their babies and hypothesized an impact of maternal heart rate and bonding.

In a first study, 30 healthy mothers (aged 20 to 43 years) were asked to stroke their respective baby

(aged 4 to 45 weeks) in a rest condition and after experimental manipulation of the maternal heart

rate (sport condition). The maternal stroking was tracked using a novel method which involves video

capturing and semi-automatic analysis of the video data.

Furthermore, the mothers answered questionnaires about mental health. In a second study, the

maternal stroking behavior of mothers with mother-child bonding disorders was investigated. The

results show that mothers stroked their baby in a periodic way with velocities that target C-tactile

fibers. After experimental increase of the maternal heart rate, the mothers’ stroking velocities

increased significantly. Stroking velocities did not relate to any of the questionnaire data (study one).

Preliminary results from mothers with mother-child bonding disorders will be presented as well.

Additional Authors:

Bytomski, A.

Bendas, J.

Ritschel, G.

Weidner, K.

http://iasat.org/

15

13.40 Keynote 3

Kerstin Uvnäs-Moberg

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Professor, Dept of Animal Environment and Health, Swedish University of Agriculture

Kerstin Uvnäs Moberg is a physician and professor of physiology with a research focus on the healing

aspects of oxytocin. Her vision is to help creating healthier and happier women by expanding the

knowledge about female physiology and by creating medical interventions based on oxytocin. Her

discoveries have helped to stimulate the development of oxytocin to become a pharmaceutical drug,

to be used to increase social competence in autistic individuals, to decrease anxiety, stress and

depression and to increase wellbeing. She has written more than 450 scientific articles and several

books on oxytocin, (which have been translated into 10 languages).

The Biological Role of Oxytocin in Social Behaviour

Effects of skin to skin contact immediately after birth

Skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby immediately after birth is linked to activation of

adaptive behavioural, neuroendocrine and physiological effects in both mother and newborn. The

newborn performs a complex breast-seeking behaviour and the maternal interaction with the baby is

stimulated. Levels of anxiety decrease and pain threshold increases in both. The mothers may

experience strong feelings of joy and happiness. Maternal oxytocin levels increase during this period of

interaction. The babies fall asleep after about 90 minutes. Skin-to-skin contact is linked to several

positive long-term effects including better social interaction between mother and infant and reduced

reactions to stress in the infant one year later.

Sensory mechanisms mediating the effects of skin-to-skin contact

Visual, auditory and olfactory senses are involved in the effects caused by skin-to-skin in mothers and

babies. The majority of effects are most certainly induced by activation of sensory nerves in response

touch, stroking, pressure and temperature, by CT afferents in particular, but other types of sensory

nerves may also be involved. Activation of CT

afferents most certainly give rise to wellbeing and also other effects via neurogenic pathways during

skin-to-skin contact. But what about the behavioural, neuroendocrine and physiological effects caused

by skin-to-skin contact? It is likely that some of the behavioural, neuroendocrine and physiological

effects induced by of skin-to-skin contact are mediated by release of endogenous oxytocin in response

to stimulation of Ct afferents.

Oxytocin

Administration of or release of endogenous oxytocin stimulates different kinds of social behaviours

including maternal behaviour. It decreases levels of anxiety and pain, it induces wellbeing and calm, it

decreases stress levels via a reduced activity in the HPA axis and the sympathetic nervous system and

it stimulates digestive, anabolic and healing processes and growth e.g. by an enhanced

parasympathetic nervous tone. The similarity between the effect pattern induced by administration of

oxytocin and by skin- to-skin contact suggests that oxytocin might be involved in the effects caused by

skin-to-skin contact.

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14.20 The Neurochemistry of Affective Touch

Siri Leknes

University of Oslo

Associate professor, Dept. Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway

Siri Leknes is an affective neuroscientist trained in Oxford, Gothenburg and Oslo. The Leknes Affective

Brain lab is dedicated to the study of one of the world’s great mysteries: how the brain gives rise to

subjective feelings. To this end, we employ psychopharmacology, brain imaging and experimental

psychology methods.

The Neurochemical Basis Of Affective Touch Perception - a

Review of Current Evidence

CT-optimal touch can be pleasant or unpleasant.

When pleasant, the affective response is thought to reinforce behaviours leading to further receipt of

touch. One of the major determinants of the affective value of touch is: who is touching you?

Pleasant touch is thought to aid the formation and maintenance of close social bonds. Current theories

highlight oxytocin and mu-opioids as the most central peptides for social bonding, and therefore likely

candidates to underpin touch pleasantness, motivation for caress-like touch, and other effects of touch

relevant to social bonding.

I will review current evidence from psychopharmacology and PET imaging in humans.

Surprisingly, there is virtually no evidence implicating mu-opioids in touch pleasantness perception,

nor in motivation for touch. Results from a recent PET study were consistent with a decrease, not the

expected increase, in endogenous opioid release during touch from a partner.

The evidence from intranasal oxytocin studies is mixed, but consistent with a selective effect such that

only touch from a desirable or close individual is modulated.

In sum, when CT-optimal touch is pleasant and leads to motivation for further touch, a number of

neurochemical systems are likely involved in the human brain and body. Oxytocin may play a role,

consistent with its modulation of non-touch processes. However, the mu-opioid system does not

appear to be critical for appreciation of or motivation for caress-like touch in humans.

Additional Authors:

Guro Løseth, University of Oslo

http://iasat.org/

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14.45 The Neurochemistry of Affective Touch

Paula Trotter

Manchester Metropolitan University

Lecturer, Department of Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK

Paula Trotter is currently lecturing in Psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University. After

completing her undergraduate degree in Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of

Manchester, Paula began her PhD researching neurobiological mechanisms of affective touch and their

role in depression at The University of Manchester. Paula remained at The University of Manchester

for her first post-doc, investigating the neurobiology of resilience to depression, then moved to

Liverpool John Moores University, researching the role of serotonin in affective touch responses.

Paula’s research is focussed on the role of serotonin in the encoding of affective touch responses, with

a view to understanding the importance of affective touch in the promotion of general well-being and

prevention of psychiatric disorders, such as depression, for which deficient serotonin function is

implicated.

CTs & the Blues: The Role of 5-HT on Social Touch & Depression

Depressive disorders are becoming extremely common, being the leading cause of disability

worldwide. Social isolation is a known risk factor for the onset of a depressive episode and a major

component of social isolation is a lack of affective touch. The brain chemical serotonin has long been

implicated as the neurotransmitter involved in the aetiology of depression. This talk will examine the

role of affective touch from a population, systems and molecular approach.

Early parental neglect and current social isolation are major vulnerability factors for the onset of

depression after stressful life events. Lack of affective touch may contribute to the effects of

psychosocial risk factors, with research finding that a lack of maternal affection, in terms of warmth,

cuddling and kissing during childhood, to be a significant predictor of adult chronic depression in

women. Although it is known that current social isolation and a lack of maternal affection during

childhood are important factors for the onset and chronicity of depression, the neurobiological

mechanisms are not known. Evidence will be provided that CT activating touch signals the presence of

social support and attachment and that the central representation of pleasant touch requires the

involvement of the mood altering neurotransmitter, serotonin.

http://iasat.org/

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15.30 Springer Data Blitz Session

Chair: Katerina Fotopolou

15.30 to

17.00

5m Talk

+

2m

Q&A

Johanna Bendas C-tactile mediated erotic touch perception relates to

sexual desire & performance in a gender-specific

way TU Dresden

Rebecca Böhme Is it you or is it me? Differentiating between self- &

other-touch Linköping University

Connor Haggarty Early and Late Neural Responses to Affective Touch

Liverpool John Moores University

Gijs Huisman Effects of stroking velocity & touch stimulus on

perceived pleasantness in observed affective touch University of Twente

Louise Kirsch Embodied Emotional Egocentricity Bias: A new

approach to the distinction between self & other

affective states University College London (UCL)

Sarah McIntyre Pleasantness of tactile motion does not vary with

speed when C-Tactile activation is held constant Linköping University

Elena Pangiotopoulou Pleasure to See you in Me: Affective Touch Enhances

Self-Face Recognition University College London (UCL)

Ralph Pawling The relationship between autonomic regulation and

sensitivity to CT touch Liverpool John Moores University

Laura Pirazzoli How does affective touch modulate arousal states?

An investigation in early development University College London (UCL)

Federica Riva Age-related changes in the neural correlates of

empathy for pleasant & unpleasant touch University of Vienna

Juulia Suvilehto Cultural Universalism in Social Touch

Aalto University

Marian von Mohr Affective touch & attachment anxiety modulate pain

in romantic couples: A laser-evoked potentials study University College London (UCL)

Please see the IASAT2017 Poster Abstract booklet for Data Blitz session abstracts

http://iasat.org/

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After Dinner Keynote 4

Nina Jablonski

Pennsylvania State University

Evan Pugh University Professor of Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State

University, USA

Nina G. Jablonski is Evan Pugh University Professor of Anthropology at The Pennsylvania State

University. A biological anthropologist and palaeoanthropologist, Jablonski pursues basic research on

the evolution of adaptations of primates, including humans, to their environment. Her research on the

evolution of human skin and skin pigmentation has been the focus of numerous papers and two

popular books, Skin: A Natural History (2006) and Living Color: The Biological and Social Meaning of

Skin Color (2012), both published by University of California Press. Jablonski received her A.B. in

Biology at Bryn Mawr College in 1975 and her Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Washington

in 1981. She is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American

Philosophical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Social Touch in Primates

Most primates live in stable, closely knit social groups. Communication between individuals is by

vision, sounds, smell, and touch, with social touch playing a major role in the establishment and

maintenance of social bonds. Affiliative touch in primates begins with a long period of mother-infant

bonding and extends to other group members throughout juvenile and adult life. Social touch

promotes individual well-being and group cohesion, and is essential for the prevention and mitigation

of aggression between individuals. Social touch has played a central role in the evolutionary success of

primates as a lineage, and -- long before the emergence of articulate speech and language -- served a

key role in human evolution. Far from being a useless relic of humanity's evolutionary past, social

touch is still critical to human health and well-being.

http://iasat.org/

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10.00 Current Theories of C-tactile afferent function

India Morrison

Linköping University

Senior lecturer, Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Linköping University, Sweden

India Morrison uses fMRI and other measures to investigate the neural bases of affective touch, as

well as related systems contributing to pain. Her primary research interest is in discovering how the

underlying neural processes of touch and pain relate to behavior, especially social behavior. Her

educational background spans philosophy and cognitive neuroscience. She is currently a principal

investigator and co-director of the Group for Research in Affective Somatosensation and Pain (GRASP)

within the Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience (CSAN) at Linköping University, Sweden.

Is Affective Touch Even A Thing?

The study of affective touch neuroanatomy is still in its beginning stages, but several main themes

have begun to emerge. First, that affective touch is anatomically and functionally distinct from

discriminative touch; second, that it is an essentially social phenomenon; and third, that affective

touch plays a role in alleviating or buffering stress, via certain candidate neural systems. To varying

degrees, these propositions assume that an underlying neuroanatomical system for affective touch is

unified and distinct. Further, there is often a tacit assumption that the system’s very existence must

reflect the evolutionary importance of touch in social interactions. This talk summarizes these themes

and probes these implicit assumptions. It draws on comparative anatomy to present a perspective in

which affective touch, as we humans experience it, may arise from multiple, interacting neural

systems with distinguishable functional roles and evolutionary histories.

http://iasat.org/

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Susannah Walker


Senior Lecturer, School of Natural Sciences & Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, UK

Susannah Walker is a Senior Lecturer and member of the Research Centre for Brain and Behaviour at

Liverpool John Moores University. Her research is focused on how exposure to biologically salient

sensory stimuli, primarily in somatosensory and olfactory domains, influences emotional and cognitive

behaviour. After completing her PhD in Behavioural Neuroscience at the University of St Andrews in

2002, she spent 6 years as a Research Associate in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the

University of Cambridge where she studied the neural and neurochemical basis of executive control

behaviours mediated by the prefrontal cortex. Subsequently, she spent 3 years working as a research

scientist for Unilever R&D; here her role involved managing and developing external collaborations

with academics in cognitive psychology and neuroscience, as well as leading internal research in

human olfaction. She returned to academia, to take up her current position, in November 2011.

A positive touch: C-tactile afferent targeted skin stimulation

carries a positive affective value

The rewarding sensation of touch in affiliative interactions is hypothesised to be underpinned by a

specialised system of unmyelinated nerve fibres, C-tactile afferents (CTs), which respond optimally to

slowly moving, gentle touch, typical of a caress. However, with methodologies used to study these

skin afferents in humans primarily confined to basic neuroscientific and psychophysical quantification

of response properties, there is still limited direct empirical evidence to support the theory that CTs

encode socially relevant and rewarding tactile information. Recent data from our laboratory, combining

physiological and behavioural measures, indicates tactile stimulation that optimally activates CTs

caries a positive affective value that can be measured implicitly and, through acquired associations,

can be transferred to previously neutral socially relevant stimuli. In addition, we report that, even

when viewing rather than receiving touch, humans have a specific preference for CT optimal caressing,

with ratings reflecting established velocity tuning and hypothesised anatomical distribution of CTs.

However individual differences exist, with sensitivity varying as a function of psychological and

physiological traits. Ultimately, we present the case that the CT system provides a neurobiological

basis for the formation and maintenance of social bonds and attachment relationships and as such are

a potential target for therapeutic tactile interventions.

Additional Authors:

Ralph Pawling, Research Centre for Brain & Behaviour, School of Natural Sciences & Psychology,

Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Paula Trotter, Department of Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK



http://iasat.org/

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Katerina Fotopoulou

University College London

Reader, CEHP, University College London, USA

Aikaterini (Katerina) Fotopoulou, PhD, is a Reader in Psychodynamic Neuroscience at the Psychology

and Language Sciences Division, University College London. Funded by a Starting Investigator Grant

from the European Research Council for the project 'Bodily Self', she runs KatLab, a group of

researchers and students that conduct studies on topics and disorders that lie at the borders between

neurology and psychology. See here for projects and publications: http://www.fotopoulou.com.

Katerina is one of the founders of IASAT.

Objectified by Vision, but Socialised by Touch: The C Tactile

System in Multisensory Integration

In this talk, I will defend the claim that our selfhood is first and foremost embodied and social, i.e.

build upon the foundations of multisensory integration that is fundamentally shaped by embodied

interactions with other people in early infancy and beyond. Such embodied interactions allow the

developing organism to 'mentalize' its homeostatic regulation. In other words, embodied interactions

contribute directly to the building of predictive mental models (inferences) of the infant's sensory and

physiological states, given the need to maintain such states within a given dynamic range despite

internal or external perturbations. To support this claim I will present empirical studies on social,

affective touch, and particularly a specialized modality characterized by peripheral and central

neurophysiological specificity, namely the CT afferent system. CT-optimal touch has a unique role in

shaping our perception of our own body as ours and as under our volitional control. Specifically, I will

present (1) recent, accumulating evidence in healthy volunteers (5 experiments, N = 190) pointing to

the crucial role of synchronous, affective touch in multisensory integration, body ownership and body

agency, (2) recent experimental and neuroimaging findings in stroke pointing to the role of certain

brain areas for the tactile as opposed to the visual contributions to body representation and (3) a

series of experiments on multisensory integration and affective touch in Anorexia Nervosa.

Collectively, these studies show that synchronous social touch has the potential to 'sculpt' the

progressive integration and organisation of sensory and motor signals into coherent, predictive, mental

models, a process which I have linked to contemporary, computational models of brain function and

named 'embodied mentalization'. Crucially, given the dependency of humans in early infancy, there is

a 'homeostatically-necessary' plethora of such touch-based interactions, so that interoceptive

inferences and emotions necessarily rely on other people's actions (active interoceptive inference).

http://iasat.org/

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Uta Sailer

University of Oslo

Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway

Uta holds a MSc in Psychology and a PhD from the Dept. of Neurology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University

Munich. Following a postdoc on the topic of eye-hand coordination in Umeå, Sweden, and in Vienna,

Austria, on EEG correlates of reward and feedback processing, she worked as lecturer and then

professor at the Dept. of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Since 2013 she is full

professor at the University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine.

CTs and Autonomic Nervous System Regulation

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) regulates basic vital functions in response to sensory monitoring

of homeostasis. Touch activates the ANS, eliciting a sympathetic (activating) or parasympathetic

(calming) response. At the same time, different states of ANS functioning presumably affect touch

processing and/or perception and its effects. The talk gives an overview about CTs and their

relationship to the ANS.

http://iasat.org/

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Stuart Wilson

University of Sheffield

Lecturer, Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, UK

Stuart Wilson's research aims to understand how self-organisation and natural selection interact to

shape complex systems, such as brains. To this end, he constructs mathematical and computational

models of adaptive self-organising networks. His research has focussed on two model systems; i) self-

organising neural network models of the development of topological maps in sensory and motor

cortex, and ii) self-organising models of the evolution and development of collective behaviour in

animal groups. His current research is focussed on the interplay between these two systems,

exploring how self-organising interactions between developing animals shape, and are in turn shaped

by, self-organising networks in developing brains. He is particularly interested in the interplay

between brain and behaviour in the evolution of social and cognitive systems.

A Model of Social Thermoregulation

Social thermoregulation refers to the idea that attachment, in humans and other mammals, develops

from processes that evolved originally for predicting the thermal consequences of making contact with

others. An important model for social thermoregulation is the `huddling’ behaviours displayed by

litters of many rodent species, including laboratory mice and rats. For example, cross-fostering

experiments designed to control for underlying differences in thermal physiology have revealed

correlations between neonate huddling style and individual differences in adult sociality and

emotionality.

In cold environments huddling allows littermates to exchange heat and to reduce their exposed surface

areas, reducing the metabolic costs of maintaining a high body temperature. As animals grow, their

thermal physiologies mature, defining in the adult a ‘thermoneutral zone’ of temperatures over which

minimum metabolic costs are incurred. However, rats and mice continue to huddle together into

adulthood, even at thermoneutral temperatures. Understanding the transition from ‘physiological

huddling’ in neonates to this ‘filial huddling’ behaviour in the adult may help reveal the underlying

mechanisms of social thermoregulation.

Patterns of aggregation in the huddle, the development of thermal physiology, and the neural

representation of touch, have each been described in sufficient detail that theories of rodent social

thermoregulation can start to be expressed formally and tested using computer simulations. In this

talk I will present a simple (formal) model of social thermoregulation, based on a combination of

thermodynamics and associative learning, which can explain both the emergence of physiological

huddling in young animals, and the transition to filial huddling in adults. I will also report on

preliminary progress at mapping the emergence of filial huddling behaviour onto the development of

specific subcortical and cortical circuitry, and suggest how computational modelling of rodent huddling

might lead to a formal theory of the neural basis of affective touch.

http://iasat.org/

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Henrik Norholt

Ergobaby Inc.

Chief Science Officer, Ergobaby Inc.

Dr. Henrik Norholt’s primary research focus is the effects of extended parent-infant contact. He is

engaged in developing research into novel parent-infant interventions through his international

network of researchers and clinicians within psychology, pediatrics, orthopedics, obstetrics,

breastfeeding medicine, health visiting and midwifery. Outcomes for the research include attachment

and long-term parental and child physiological and psychological health. The research spans a wide

range of scientific topics, including amongst others child and adult brain and hormonal adaptation,

attachment theory, perinatal stress and resilience processes, child socio-emotional regulation and

pediatric orthopedics.

A Father's Role in Attachment & Touch - Stimulating fathers'

unique and important contributions to child development through

touch.

Fathers’ attachment processes during pregnancy and the immediate postpartum have received scant

attention. We summarize current knowledge. Fathers’ caregiving behavior is distinctly different to

mothers’ and has been found to contribute uniquely to child development. Fathers’ attachment

representations, brain and hormonal systems are influenced and shaped through being and interacting

with their infant through father-infant contact and touch. Sensitive periods/windows of opportunity for

fathers’ tactile engagement with young infants are discussed with focus on clinical implications.

http://iasat.org/

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Luke Tanner

Freelance Body Psychotherapist and Dementia Care Trainer, UK

Luke is a Body Psychotherapist and freelance dementia care trainer and consultant. In collaboration

with care providers, mental health professionals and massage therapists Luke has developed training

programmes on Touch and Non-verbal Communication and shared his specialist approach with

dementia care providers across the UK and Ireland.

In May 2017 Luke published “Embracing Touch in Dementia Care. A Person Centred Approach to

Touch and Relationships”. Outlining perspectives, training exercises and culture change actions to

maximise the benefits of touch in dementia care settings, this book enables carers to reflect on their

own use of touch and develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to place meaningful touch at the

heart of dementia care.

The Role of Touch In Dementia Care

Approaches to touch in professional dementia care settings can either function to secure or break the

bonds of trust and affection crucial to consensual caregiving; alleviate or escalate distress; erode or

sustain personhood. Care Workers, however, are rarely invited to reflect on the role of touch in their

work or consider its implications for the well-being of the people in their care. Furthermore,

professional carers are often unsure about what kinds of touch are appropriate to “care work” and

concerned about how others might perceive their touch. This doubt and uncertainty can confine touch

to care tasks and procedures and prevent carers from being in touch with people with dementia in

more meaningful ways.

The use of touch in dementia is also determined by factors ranging from prejudices about elderly

people and people with dementia, staff uniforms, care home layout and furniture, infection control, to

routine bound systems of care. Unless directly addressed, these issues often add up to an extremely

confused or touch-averse culture of care. Such cultures of care have profound implications for the

quality of life of people living in dementia care settings.

In this short presentation, Luke Tanner discusses the social psychology of touch in dementia care,

highlighting how experiences of touch can function in parallel with the neuropathology of dementia to

contribute to the cognitive, behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia. Drawing upon his

experience as a dementia care therapist, trainer and consultant, Luke also considers how research on

affective touch may contribute towards a more positive person centred culture of touch in dementia

care.

http://iasat.org/

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13.20 Keynote 5

Anthony Jones

University of Manchester

Professor of Neurorheumatology, Division of Neuroscience & Experimental Psychology, University of

Manchester, UK Lead of Human Pain Research Group, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, Salford, UK

Anthony Jones is professor of Neuro-rheumatology at Manchester University and leads the Human

Pain Research Group. Whilst at the Hammersmith Hospital he pioneered the development of

techniques to image neurochemical and metabolic brain responses to pain using Positron Emission

Tomography. Over the last twenty years he has used a number of functional brain imaging

techniques to understand the normal and abnormal mechanisms of pain perception. There is now the

exciting prospect of using some of the insights gained in these studies to develop new approaches to

pharmacological and cognitive interventions for chronic pain. His main current goals are to use the

current understanding of pain perception to encourage more rational use of current therapies and to

develop new therapies. As part of this process he has been putting a lot of energy in to public

understanding of science activities including a recent North West tour of a show about pain called

‘Pain, The Brain and a little bit of Magic’.

The C-Musketeers

The discovery of fibres that are relatively specific to pain and pleasurable or socially reassuring touch

has contributed to these fields of neuroscience becoming relatively respectable. Both phenomena are

linked anatomically and also by social and professional taboos. Pain and itch are clearly protective but

in some types of chronic pain become less so. Affective touch, from some of the work highlighted in

this conference, plays a crucial role in social and emotional development.

These aspects of normal human physiology and function have their own distinct functions and may

share common interactions which have important implications for human well -being. One aspect of

common physiology I will focus on is the natural opioid system which is activated by pain, exercise,

pleasurable stimulation and sex. However, much of what we experience during these activities is a

combination of what we expect and hard-wired information. I will summarise the evidence for chronic

pain having its origins in poor or abusive nurturing. In adults we have identified abnormalities of the

cortical processing of expectation which are correlated with the extent of tenderness in patients with

chronic pain conditions. These cortical abnormalities are reduced by mindfulness-based cognitive

therapy (CBT) in quite a similar fashion to placebo involving descending modulation by the frontal

cortex. Unfortunately patients with chronic pain live in a generally negative hedonic world, including

common difficulties with normal social touch and gaining pleasure from this. As with patients with

autism this is highly variable and not well studied.

Affective touch is a key aspect of social reassurance and I will hypothesise that the absence of this or

its replacement by verbal of physical violence in childhood and adolescence, combined with societal

constraints limiting the use of affective touch or pressure (hugging) provides for a society that is ill

equipped for preventing chronic pain or mental illness and sometimes ill equipped to heal these

conditions.

Pain is still not a required field of knowledge for the training of health workers and massage is frowned

upon by the caring and healing professions because of its uneasy relationship with sex. This is on a

background of few drugs being shown to be effective for chronic pain. I will illustrate how smart use of

neurotherapies may be used to normalise abnormal c-fibre sensations and possibly provide some

powder for the c-fibre musketeers in their future adventures.

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IASAT President

Francis McGlone


Professor of Neuroscience, Research Centre for Brain & Behaviour (RCBB) & School of Natural Sciences &

Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, UK Visiting Professor, Institute of Psychology, Health &

Society, University of Liverpool, UK

Francis McGlone was awarded a BSc (Hons) in Neurobiology from the University of Sussex, where he

also received his PhD. After postdoctoral posts at Manchester University he took up the position of

Senior Neuroscientist at the Pain Research Institute, Department of Medicine, at the University of

Liverpool, investigating mechanisms of neuropathic pain.

He joined Unilever R&D in 1995 where he established a new science base - Cognitive Neuroscience -

with the specific objective to understand and apply knowledge of the basic neurobiological and

psychological processes underpinning sensation, and the central processes of perception, attention,

emotion and action, engaged during grooming and feeding behaviours. He returned to academia in

2009 and is currently Professor in Neuroscience in the School of Natural Sciences & Psychology at

Liverpool John Moores University, Visiting Professor at Liverpool University and President of the

International Association for the Study of Affective Touch (IASAT).

His primary area of academic research is in characterising the role of afferent c-fibres in humans,

investigating their role in pain, itch, and more concertedly the functional and affective properties of a

novel class of c-fibres - C-tactile afferents – that code for the rewarding properties of intimate touch.

Techniques used in this research include microneurography, psychophysical measurements, functional

neuroimaging, behavioural measures, and psychopharmacological approaches to investigate the role

of the brain transmitters such as serotonin in affiliative and social touch.

IASAT President

Håkan Olausson

Linköping University

Professor, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine (IKE) & Center for Social and Affective

Neuroscience (CSAN), Linköping University, Sweden

Håkan Olausson, MD, is a Consultant in Clinical Neurophysiology at the Linköping University Hospital

and Professor in Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Linköping, Sweden. He did his

undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden and his postdoc training

at McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

http://iasat.org/

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